Phage Aggregation-Dispersion by Ions: Striving beyond Antibacterial Therapy

Bacteriophages sense alkaline cations in their immediate extracellular environment, which regulates virion-virion interactions. An ion-steerable aggregation-dispersion (A/D) phenomenon among virions is a recently discovered step in group behavior in the phage life cycle. When powered by the octanol-based water-immiscible lipopolysaccharide (LPS) trap (oWILT) purification approach, A/D promises breakthroughs for a plethora of biotechnological applications beyond phage therapy.